Of Tea and Kisses
by zukoshotpants
Summary: Zuko and Katara discuss kissing over tea, and both end up flustered to some degree. Silly-ish one shot, nothing too fancy. Rated T to be safe but really it's not so bad, unless you're extremely offended by tea and chatting. Zutara.


I don't know what to put here other than the fact that 1. This is the first Zutara story I've published aaack 2. Zutara is my favorite thing of things 3. I don't own Avatar by any means 4. This is sort of my first brush with fanfiction but not really 5. ENJOY THE SILLY STORY

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"What was it...like?"

Zuko, surprisingly, was behaving pretty well about the fact that Aang had kissed Katara. She had finally told him earlier that day, when he and Aang were taking a break from firebending practice. She'd been sitting on a bench, watching, and Zuko had come up to sit next to her and for some reason, she had just _told _him.

Now, the two of them sat on a couch, each reclined over their separate arms. They were drinking tea Zuko had made. It wasn't the greatest, but he was trying.

"I don't know," Katara raised the cup to her lips. "A little weird, if I'm being honest."

"Weird how? Like he wasn't good at it?"

The thought of Aang not being a good kisser seemed to amuse Zuko slightly. Katara wrinkled her nose at him.

"He's twelve, Zuko." She sipped her tea. "Not all of us have the _extensive_ experience of a sixteen year old."

"I'm just saying," Zuko shrugged, still looking amused. He didn't usually find much to be amused at, so Katara let it go. He looked at her, and his face turned a little more solemn.

"It's bothering you." Zuko had a habit of pointing out what was going on in her own mind, like she was incapable of knowing herself. Katara huffed.

"Yeah," she admitted. "It is."

"Why?"

_How can I tell you?_ Katara paused uncertainly. "It just didn't feel...right." The words hung in the air, and that didn't feel right either, so Katara felt herself blurt out the words "_I kind of like someone else anyway_."

Zuko raised an eyebrow at her, but didn't say anything. He just slowly raised his cup to his lips and drank, maybe he didn't want to ask, maybe he was waiting for her to say more.

"Have you ever kissed anyone?" _A stupid question. Of course he has_, Katara chided herself, pulling her knees to her chest and wrapping one arm around them.

"You're acting weird," was Zuko's reply. Katara looked at him, and the slightest hint of a smirk was playing at the corner of his mouth.

"I'm not being _weird_," she insisted. "I believe I asked you a question."

"Yes."

"Yes what? Yes I asked you a question, or yes you've kissed someone?"

Zuko sighed, and ran a hand through his hair. It fell back into his eyes, shaggy and in desperate need of a trim, Katara noticed.

"_Yes, I've kissed someone_."

"Oh." Katara knew it. "Me too."

"I know," Zuko looked very confused. "Is something on your mind? Something other than...kissing?"

"No." Katara shook her head, then looked back at Zuko in alarm. "Not that all that's on my mind is kissing. I'm thinking about plenty of other things that _aren't_ kissing." this only made Zuko raise his eyebrow further, and Katara turned bright red and kept babbling. "Not things that are related to kissing but aren't kissing, but things that have nothing whatsoever to do with kissing and that never will, and just that..."

"Katara..." Zuko looked amused again. "It's okay to think about that stuff."

"...that stuff?"

"Yeah." Zuko leaned back on the armrest, crossing his arms. He'd finished his tea, Katara noticed. "It happens."

Katara _had_ been thinking about _that stuff_, if _that stuff _was really the _stuff_ Zuko was talking about. Recently, she'd found herself wanting more than just kisses, but what _that stuff _was, she really wasn't quite sure.

Katara didn't say anything, but tugged on her hair. She was finished with her tea too, but was too preoccupied thinking about what Zuko said to notice.

"Do you want more?"

"What?" Katara's eyes widened. "More kissi..."

"_Tea_," Zuko said loudly, "Do you want more _tea._"

"Oh." Katara turned red again. "No, I'm fine."

Zuko eyed her curiously as she set the cup down on the floor.

"The Avatar kisses you, but it's not good enough," Zuko mused aloud. "Must be some other guy you have eyes for."

"You wouldn't know him," Katara said haughtily, trying to regain her composure. Zuko stayed quiet, tapping his fingers against his upper arm. His eyes found the floor and stayed there for quite a while, his eyes furrowed in what appeared to be deep thought.

"I'll tell you what he's like," Katara offered cautiously, inching a little closer. "If you want."

"Go for it." Zuko's tone had changed. He was getting sulky, which was making Katara dangerously close to getting huffy. She forced herself to be patient, because her huffiness only made his sulkiness worse.

Where had it even come from?

"He's handsome," Katara began slowly, and Zuko cringed. Katara moved closer to him, but he either didn't notice or didn't care. "The most handsome boy I've ever seen. He looks angry most of the time, but usually all I have to do is make a face at him, and he'll laugh for me. That's the thing, I know how to make him happy. I don't know if a lot of people can say that about him. He's got a temper, and half the time he makes me want to pull my hair out, but he has these eyes that make me feel _safe_. Such brilliant, golden eyes. I've...I've wanted to say something to him for a long time. But I couldn't really figure out how to do it."

Zuko didn't say anything. Katara felt her heart in her throat. _He doesn't like me_, she thought, and for a second, she wanted to suck all the words back into her mouth. _He has that weird girlfriend already, what was I even_...

"Can I tell you something?" Zuko's voice broke her train of thought, and she snapped back to the moment.

"Uh, yeah," she said nervously, brushing her hair behind her ear.

"No one's really told me I was handsome before."

Zuko's voice was quiet. Katara's heart stopped hammering and she looked at him.

"Really? But...Mai..."

"Mai didn't say a lot of things." Zuko looked back at the floor, then his eyes, those golden eyes, found Katara's. "Do you really think that?"

"Zuko..." Katara breathed, reaching for his face, "_of course I do_."

He just stared at her in amazement for a few seconds, like he was having the slightest bit of difficulty processing what she was saying.

"Me," he murmered, as her thumb brushed the corner of his mouth.

"You," Katara admitted, her heart rising out of her throat and clouding her head. Zuko touched her cheek gingerly, hesitantly, like he was afraid she would balk at the gesture. His hand was warm; the heat seeped into Katara's skin and spread everywhere within her. _Like fire._

Katara felt Zuko's breath, releasing in shudders on her skin. She took his head in both of her hands then, reassuring him, and guided him to her lips.

Zuko was nervous, more nervous than Katara had expected him to be, but the kiss he gave her was stunning, softly determined, confident, _burning_. And Katara melted.

He tasted like smoke, like smoke curling off a burning log. She loved that, and relished in the taste of his breath and his lips and his tongue as she anchored herself on his lap.

Zuko broke away slowly, his lips still parted, and looked at Katara breathlessly.

"Now _that_ was a kiss," Katara murmered, and, her arms around his neck, pulled him in for more.

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Thanks for reading! I apologize about the fire puns really, but it's impossible to have Zutara without them yes it is  
:):)


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